REVIEW: ‘Scott Pilgrim’ scores epic win with frenetic charm

“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” propels its source material straight out of the comic shop and right through the arcade and into your old Nintendo Entertainment System, only to jolt up your funny bone and zap your heart right between the eyes. It’s that rapid-fire fast, that happily furious and most of all that much fun — an action comedy romance that zips between the comic spinner rack and “Street Fighter” with joyful abandon.

Director Edgar Wright of “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead” fame has an absolute blast infusing Bryan Lee O’Malley’s cartoonish graphic novels with live-action verve, literal comic-book BAM! POW! and 8-bit coin-op homages aplenty. And even if you don’t know the comic (I’ve read maybe only one) do know that you’re in for a very giddy, very epic good time.

Our sugar-rushed tale centers on Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a 22-year-old slacker who rocks a mean bass in a Toronto garage band called Sex Bob-omb. Scott has a knack for keeping girlfriends on the most delicate of strings, but mostly because of shaky self-absorption than any smooth moves.

Naturally, our love-befuddled hero meets his match when he meets his literal dream girl Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Only this gamine with the Crayola-colored hair carries some serious baggage: Anyone who wants to date her has to defeat her seven evil exes.

And so the big-screen video game begins. Each confrontation between Scott and the League of Evil Exes plays out like a kaleidoscopic boss battle with whirling punches and slamming, comic-booky special effects. (Think “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” by way of “Super Mario Bros.” with a dash of Adam West’s “Batman.”) And we’re talking seriously odd adversaries here, like wussy dudes who dig pirate gear, vegan rockers who look just like “Superman Returns” star Brandon Routh and even… twins. Just fun, fun stuff.

But the real charm behind all this crazy eye-candy is how Wright soaks the movie’s pacing and characters in cheeky wit. From the flick’s many quick cuts to Scott and everyone else’s quick quips, “Scott Pilgrim” marinades in sarcastic charm. Even if it is charm soaked in Red Bull.

That doesn’t mean the movie’s all hyperactive style with no qualitative substance. Cera brings a welcome edge to his trademark (read: tired) “being awkward thing” that makes his Scott Pilgrim a lovable but flawed hero you want to root for as well as smack upside the head. And Kieran Culkin absolutely owns every scene he’s in as Scott’s sardonic gay roommate Wallace. Kudos also to Chris Evans as evil ex/lunkhead action star Lucas Lee and Ellen Wong as Scott’s little fangirl Knives Chau.

Surprisingly, the only star who doesn’t shine as brightly as you’d expect is Winstead. Sure, she makes for an alluring enough action figure amongst this motley bunch, but too often her range starts and stops with her cocked eyebrows. Still, Ramona does brandish a giant mallet that would make Gallagher jealous. So there is that. And that is awesome.

And awesome is the operative word for “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.” It’s the perfect flick for anyone who’s ever coddled a game controller, weathered feedback from a battered Marshall stack or had his or her heart chomped on like a pack of Pop Rocks. Which means this film speaks to the comic gamer rocker lovesick geek in all of us. And who wouldn’t want to hang with that crowd?

4 out of 5 spinning coins

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